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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610058">The Chemistry of Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoNettle/pseuds/EchoNettle'>EchoNettle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cliche, F/M, First Love, Fluff, High School, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Post-Time Skip, Romance, Slow Burn, Teen Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:16:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,452</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610058</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoNettle/pseuds/EchoNettle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>'C8H11NO2+C10H12N2O+C43H66N12O12S2', Kuroo wrote into your notebook.<br/>''What's this supposed to mean?''<br/>''It means I love you.''</p><p>The story as to how you and Nekoma's rooster-haired volleyball captain fell in love.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader, Kozume Kenma/Reader, Kuroo Tetsurou &amp; Reader, Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Female Character(s), Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader, Kuroo Tetsurou/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Estrogen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You transfer from Jozhenji to Nekoma high. Placed into class 2-5, you find your first friend in the solitary Kenma Kozume and you catch the eye of his childhood best friend.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You stood at the front of the class, nervously smoothing out the grey skirt of your school uniform. Students filtered in through the doorway, shooting curious glances your way and whispered among themselves. As the last of the students came through, the homeroom teacher had stood up and gestured towards you.</p><p>“Good morning class, we have a new student joining us today in class 2-5. It must be hard to transfer in the middle of the semester so please be kind. Please introduce yourself.”</p><p>You nodded and placed both hands at your sides to try to foster confidence, “Hello, I’m y/n l/n! I transferred here from Miyagi prefecture, I look forward to getting to know you all”, you bowed and stared at the back wall.</p><p>You had mixed reactions from your peers, some looked to still be half-asleep while others were interested at the prospect of new blood. The teacher scanned a sheet of paper, “y/n there’s a seat in the second back row, next to Kozume Kenma.”</p><p>You nodded and assumed the boy whose desk was next to the window was Kenma. He had fairly long hair, half of which had been dyed blonde and was staring intently into his lap. You saw flashing lights and realized he was holding a psp. Silently chuckling, you faced back towards the front of the class, looking around the room it seemed everyone had already formed their little groups. </p><p>It was no small decision deciding to transfer from Jozhenji to Nekoma, but you had dreams of enrolling in Tokyo University and Nekoma being near Tokyo was well-known for their advanced college-prep courses. You had grown up with your family in Miyagi prefecture, mostly spending time with your grandparents as your parents were frequently travelling for work. The stars had aligned when your parents had to move to Tokyo for your dad’s promotion. While you were sad to leave your childhood friends behind, you were one step closer to your goal.</p><p>The first half of the day went smoothly, although you had transferred into the class in the middle of first semester you hadn’t found it too difficult. The lunch bell rang and luckily some students had approached you asking questions about Miyagi and your life. You were grateful to have companions on your first day and gladly answered them, asking questions about the school culture here and there.</p><p>You looked to the boy next to you, he had still been sitting alone, engrossed in his game. You noticed that none of the other students approached him, unsure of whether this was of his own accord or theirs.</p><p>Suddenly the classroom door slid open and a tall man with messy black hair had walked in, scanning the room clearly looking for someone. His eyes met yours and lingered for a second before he seemed to find who he was looking for.</p><p>His eyes narrowed onto the boy sitting next to you, “Kenma! Coach wants to speak to you!”, he hollered, Kenma nodded, eyes still on his psp and left the room with the tall man.</p><p>Some of the girls sitting with you began to gossip, helping you fill in the blanks.</p><p>“Who is that?”</p><p>“I think he’s in third year, Kuroo is the volleyball team’s captain.”</p><p>“We have a volleyball team?”</p><p>“He’s really hot, looks like the mature type!”</p><p>“Don’t let your boyfriend hear you say that!”</p><p>You laughed along with your classmates gossiping, looking back at the classroom door curiously. </p><p>Before you knew it, it was already Friday. During lunch breaks you had sat with a couple different classmates, not to say they weren’t nice but you felt somewhat of an intruder on the inside, breaking up the established group dynamics. </p><p>You had just gotten your hands on the new open-world MMO game that everyone had been talking about. Excitedly creating your character, you had made yourself comfortable in a rarely-used stairwell. To anyone else, it would’ve looked like you had trouble fitting in, but you were comfortable being alone. </p><p>Biting your lip in frustration you had just gotten killed by the dungeon boss again. Pressing the restart button, you entered the battle again, another player seemed to be battling the same boss. You got up and started pacing around the stairwell, you and the other player had synced your attacks to deal more damage. You noticed the other player had collapsed so you healed them, you figured it was the least you could as they were dealing more damage to the boss. Besides it seemed this dungeon needed more than one person to be able to beat it. </p><p>You hopped onto the last step when you noticed a familiar figure sitting on the bottom step. Kenma was sitting on the bottom step, his face scrunched up in concentration, he hadn’t noticed your presence.</p><p>You looked back onto your game and the sweet satisfaction came when ‘Victory’ in large block letters appeared on your screen.</p><p>You mentally fist pumped and looked over Kenma’s screen seeing the same victory screen, deducing that he had been the other player. You sat down next to Kenma, “Good job Kozume-san, we did it!”</p><p>He jumped in his seat, surprised to find you next to him. His eyes widened in recognition, “Oh y/n, that was you”, he said gently.</p><p>You smiled at him happy that he had remembered you and held your hand out for a high five which he reluctantly returned. “Thanks Kozume-san, I had been struggling with the dungeon for the whole week!”</p><p>He stared blankly at you, “I should thank you as well, I’ve been stuck on that level for a while too.” He paused slightly, seeming to want to say something.</p><p>You tilted your head in curiosity, encouraging him to go on.</p><p>“Do you want to form a party, it seems some dungeons require multiplayer”, Kenma had moreso stated than asked in his monotone voice, “unless you’re busy with your friends, I don’t mind”, he added in at the end, a brief look of uncomfort flashing across his face.</p><p>You smiled brightly at him, “I would love to! I just hope I don’t slow you down,”</p><p>He shook his head, “You won’t, I’ve played with much worse.”</p><p>“Thanks I guess?”</p><p>Kenma smiled at you in amusement for the first time, suggesting he did mean it as a compliment.</p><p>You spent the rest of lunch splitting up loot between you, Kenma helping you figure out your special attacks and explaining game strategies. As the bell rang signalling for students to head back to class rang, you and Kenma started to walk back together.</p><p>As you both sat at your respective desks, Kenma turned towards you, “By the way, you can just call me Kenma. That’s what my friends call me.”</p><p>You nodded and smiled to yourself, realizing you had just made your first real friend at your new school.</p><p>You spent the next couple of days with Kenma during the breaks in between classes. While the majority of the time was spent eating and playing video games in peaceful silence, you had talked a little bit about your lives and you learned that he was on the volleyball team as well and the guy you had seen the other day had in fact been Kuroo Tetsurou, Kenma’s childhood friend.</p><p>It was breaktime the next day and you headed to the vending machine outside to grab a drink, when you spotted a familiar pudding head sitting on the grass with a few other guys. You had assumed they were also on the volleyball team, as Kenma hadn’t brought up any other friends in your conversations. </p><p>“Kenma where have you been lately? Don’t tell me you’ve been skipping lunches to play video games again”, Kuroo playfully scolded.</p><p>Kenma rolled his eyes, his head still buried in his game console, “You sound like my mother, I’ve been eating with my friend.”</p><p>Yaku and Yamamoto being in hearing distance looked at Kenma in shock. Kuroo’s mouth literally fell open, “You never mentioned this! When did you make a new friend?”, Kuroo dramatically pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “First Hinata, now this, I’m so proud of you!”</p><p>“Is it really that surprising?” Kenma asked, annoyed at his teammates’ reactions.</p><p>“You have to admit Kenma, you’re not exactly the sociable type”, Yaku said.</p><p>Lev’s ears perked up at the conversation and layed down in front of Kenma, “Oooh Kenma made a new friend. Who is it?”</p><p>“I still don’t get why you guys are overreacting, her name’s y/n, the new transfer student in my class.” </p><p>Yamamoto looked incredulous and stood up, “Your new friend is a girl?! Is she cute? Why didn’t you start with that?”, he bombarded.</p><p>Lev didn’t help with the noise levels, “Do you have pictures, is she single?”</p><p>Kuroo noticed Kenma’s eyes start to twitch, deciding although he’d love to tease his friend more he was beginning to reach his breaking point.</p><p>“Why would he have pictures of her Lev? That’s kind of creepy to have after just meeting, and Yamamoto quit making that face, you’re scaring the people around us”, Kuroo said, Yamamoto dejectedly sitting back down.</p><p>You finished your drink and approached Kenma, figuring it was harmless to say hello. You tip-toed behind Kenma, he was engrossed in his game again not noticing you. Kuroo looked up at you in surprise, you quickly lifted your finger to your mouth, gesturing for him to keep silent. He realized what you meant and smirked turning back to his conversation with some of the other guys.</p><p> ‘Wow I see what those girls in my class were talking about, he is pretty hot’, you thought to yourself.</p><p>You turned your attention back to Kenma and leaned in to whisper into his ear, “Long-range attacks work better on this level.”</p><p>Kenma whipped his head back in shock, covering his hand over his ear. He glared at you, a faint flush on his cheeks, “Not you too, y/n.”</p><p>You broke out into a fit of giggles, clutching your stomach at his reaction, “Sorry Kenma I couldn’t help it! For an observant guy it’s pretty easy to catch you off guard!”</p><p>He rolled his eyes and turned back to his game. A tall guy with silver hair whom you guessed was Lev, from Kenma’s complaints of a new half-Russian team member, bounded towards you. </p><p>“She is cute!”</p><p>Another guy with a blonde mohawk, who you figured was Yamamoto, pouted, “even Kenma can get a cute girl, when is it my turn!” </p><p>Yaku smacked him behind the head, “Shut up! You’re going to scare Kenma’s friend away!”</p><p>You looked curiously at Kenma, wondering what he had told his friends about you. As if he read your mind, he shrugged and said, “I just mentioned you were a girl.”</p><p>Everyone had introduced themselves to you and vice versa. Kuroo stood up and gestured for you to sit between him and Kenma.</p><p>“Why don’t you join us y/n? Any friend of Kenma is a friend of ours”, Kuroo smirked devilishly.</p><p>You agreed and figured everyone seemed nice enough. Lev and Yamamoto bombarded you with questions, mainly about your love life. Yaku shot you an apologetic look and tried to calm the two boys down.</p><p>While you were distracted fielding an interrogation from Lev and Yamamoto, Kenma gave Kuroo a dirty look. ‘What?’, Kuroo mouthed. </p><p>Kenma leaned in so only Kuroo could hear. “Stop trying to hit on my friend.”</p><p>Kuroo placed a hand on his chest and feigned offence, “How dare you Kenma? I’m just taking an interest in the second friend you’ve made on your own.” </p><p>You took your spot back next to Kuroo and Kenma. “Oooh are we sharing secrets? What are you guys talking about?”</p><p>Kuroo’s face flushed with panic at the prospect of you overhearing his conversation. At times like these, he hated how observant Kenma could be, noticing the way Kuroo’s eyes lingered a bit too long when looking at you and his attempt at a cool-guy facade. He found you attractive, he had to admit, but he wouldn’t risk his friendship with Kenma, not over what he thought was a small crush, he was a hormonal boy afterall. </p><p>While you and Kenma only knew each other for a short while, you seemed to be very close, especially considering it was Kenma. Kuroo couldn’t help but wonder if you had a crush on Kenma or the other way around.</p><p>During the next couple of days your presence with Nekoma’s volleyball team had been commonplace. All your lunches and breaks had been spent hanging out with them, either gaming with Kenma, trying to handle the chaos that was Lev and Yamamoto with Yaku, or bantering with Kuroo.</p><p>You could easily see why Kuroo was Kenma’s closest friend, he was just as observant and was able to make you feel comfortable, like you belonged. Your conversations with Kuroo flowed easily, discussing any topic under the sun, literally.</p><p>“What’s with that in cartoons anyways? Why do roosters always have to mark the start of the morning?”, Kuroo mused.</p><p>You smirked at him and ran your hand through his hair trying to smooth it down, to no avail. </p><p>“Why don’t we ask our resident rooster? Takes one to know one”, you teased. His light brown eyes widened and the both of you froze staring at each other. Suddenly aware of how close your face was to his, and the fact that you were almost on his lap, you quickly removed your hand and turned your head to try to hide the blush that was spreading on your cheeks. If you had turned back you would have noticed him doing the same.</p><p>“Not true”, Kenma mumbled, unwittingly saving both you and Kuroo. “Kuroo’s a nightmare to try and wake up. Sleeps like a log.”</p><p>“I do not!”</p><p>“Do too.”</p><p>“Do not!”</p><p>“Do too.”</p><p>You rolled your eyes as they bickered back and forth, knowing they would stop eventually after one of them would get tired. You noticed bags under Kuroo’s eyes that hadn’t been there before, he seemed more tired than usual. Thinking back to what Kenma mentioned, there was a training camp coming up with the other high schools in the area. You nodded to yourself, realizing they must be having a lot more practices to prepare.</p><p>“Oh y/n! We have a shorter practice today after school! Do you wanna come and watch? You can see how cool I am as an Ace!”, Lev exclaimed excitedly. If he didn’t resemble a large persian cat so much, you would have figured he was a dog wagging his tail.</p><p>“Is it ok for me to come watch?”</p><p>Yamamoto smacked the back of Lev’s head, “Quit calling yourself the Ace when I’m right here! Sure come see us y/n, Coach Nekomata is pretty relaxed about these things!”</p><p>You agreed and nodded, excited to see them in action.</p><p>Yaku leaned in, “y/n’s going to watch us play?” You nodded, “Yeah if it’s ok with all of you guys.”</p><p>“Of course it’s ok with us shortcake”, Kuroo teased, you winced at his cringy nickname, shoving his shoulder. </p><p>“I told you to stop calling me that.”</p><p>Kuroo snickered, “But it’s true! If you need someone to explain how volleyball works I consider myself an expert.”</p><p>You rolled your eyes, “For the record I actually do know a bit about volleyball.”</p><p>Lev perked up and Yamamoto’s eyes widened in surprise. “What how? Do you play?”</p><p>You shook your head and nervously placed a hand behind your neck, “Not quite, my ex was the Captain on Jozhenji’s volleyball team.”</p><p>“Ex?!”, Lev and Yamamoto exclaimed in unison, the boy with the blonde mohawk pretending to faint from shock, or at least you hoped he was pretending.</p><p>You raised an eyebrow at their antics, “Yeah, Terushima Yuuji, why have you heard of him? I don’t recall Nekoma ever playing against them.”</p><p>Kenma faintly recognized the name from one of Hinata’s stories, he elbowed Kuroo who was deep in thought, you could almost see the gears in his head shifting as he tried to recall who that was. </p><p>“It’s that tongue piercing guy Hinata was talking about.”</p><p>Kuroo’s eyes flickered with recognition, he snapped his fingers and began cackling wildly. You had never heard such a distinct laugh, resembling a gutteral hyena.</p><p>“Your ex was Tongue Piercing? You sure know how to pick ‘em”, Kuroo added sarcastically at the end.</p><p>“Hey! Besides he’s an ex for a reason”, you flicked his forehead in irritation.</p><p>Kuroo smiled softly at you with a gentleness you hadn’t seen in him before, “Sorry too far? Bad blood?”</p><p>“Nothing like that, we were just too different. He did everything in the moment, and I’m more the type to plan ahead and chase my ambitions, I guess I was always envious of that.”</p><p>Kuroo looked up in thought for a moment before turning to stare deeply at you, “I think that’s an admirable trait you have”, responding seriously for once.</p><p>“Since when were you so nice?”, you asked, seeing a new side to him.</p><p>He placed a hand over his chest, the other up in the air, “I’m always this kind.”</p><p>You and Yaku stared blankly at him, Kenma completely ignoring Kuroo at this point.</p><p>“Hey don’t look at me like that!”</p><p>You felt a prickling feeling in your chest and a weird feeling in your stomach whenever you looked at Kuroo after that. You had an inkling of what this was but decided that it was your lunch disagreeing with your stomach instead. It was a far more rational and easier answer.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Testosterone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You get roped into becoming the volleyball team's manager. You don't seem to mind, afterall a certain captain makes sure you feel welcome.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You opened the doors to the gym, peeking in to see if you had recognized anyone. After class finished, Kenma had gone ahead with the rest of the team to change into their uniforms first.</p><p>You walked in noticing an older man who you assumed was the coach sitting on the bench nearby. You walked up to him and introduced yourself, asking if it was alright to watch practice.</p><p>The older man had happily agreed and introduced himself as Nekomata, “Right, Kuroo mentioned that a friend would be coming to watch, that’s no problem!”</p><p>“Thank you! Let me know if I can help out with anything.”</p><p>“Hmm now that you mention it would you mind filling up the rest of the boys’ water bottles? I think Kuroo had already gone ahead with the other half.”</p><p>You agreed, seeing it was the least you could do for barging in on their practice.</p><p>Picking up the remaining water bottles and clutching them in your arms, you walked out of the gym and found the closest water fountain in the hallway. As you went to press down the button to release the water, a sudden gush of water sprayed out like a mini geyser, leaving your top half completely soaked.</p><p>You yelped in surprise, taking a step back and bumping into something hard and hearing the sound of bottles falling to the ground. You turned around to find that something was in fact Kuroo’s chest. </p><p>“Chibi-chan?” Kuroo seemed just as surprised as you, trying to not let his eyes linger on your almost transparent blouse.</p><p>If you hadn’t been trying to pick up the fallen bottles on the floor, you would’ve noticed the blush that spread on Kuroo’s face.</p><p>You rolled your eyes at yet another one of Kuroo’s cringy nicknames for you. </p><p>“Sorry Kuroo, I was trying to help out but this water fountain went ‘splash zone’ on me!”</p><p>He chuckled and helped collect the rest of the bottles. “No worries, everyone avoids this one since it’s been broken for ages. But you can consider this your hazing ritual, y’know since you’re new and all,” Kuroo teased, flashing a canine smile.</p><p>“What a warm welcome”, you responded sarcastically. You shivered slightly, Kuroo looking down your wet shirt, then quickly averting his gaze back up to your face.</p><p>“Do you have any spare clothes? I can grab them for you?”</p><p>You shook your head, “Nope, didn’t have gym class today, besides I couldn’t ask you to go out of your way to help me.”</p><p>Kuroo unzipped his red Nekoma track jacket, and tossed it over your head. You pulled the jacket off your face, glaring at him.</p><p>“Put it on. Can’t have you getting sick on me, my conscience wouldn’t let me live it down knowing I killed one of Kenma’s friends.”</p><p>You laughed and zipped it on, his jacket being comically large on you. “Just a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”</p><p>Kuroo began to lead the both of you back to the gym, “Not at all, Chiiiibi-chan”, drawling out the end of his nickname for you.</p><p>You glared at the back of his head, already imagining the cheshire grin he had on his face. </p><p>“Perfect timing guys!” Yaku ran over, giving a quick quizzical glance at you in Kuroo’s jacket before continuing, “Lev accidentally served a ball right to Yamamoto’s face!”</p><p>You looked past Yaku to see Yamamoto spread out on the gym floor. You brought one of the water bottles to him and knelt beside him. </p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>He blinked up at you from the ground, seeing you in the volleyball team’s track jacket,“f-f-female manager?! Am I in heaven?”</p><p>Well at least he was conscious.</p><p>“I can’t believe we finally have a female manager!” Yamamoto exclaimed before laying back onto the ground, passing out unconscious.</p><p>Nevermind.</p><p>Needless to say it was an eventful practice. After Yamamoto was situated, Coach Nekomata approached you.</p><p>“y/n since it seems you’re already acquainted with the team, how would you feel about becoming the team manager? Kuroo’s been taking it all on himself and it would be nice to give him a chance to focus on the training camp we’re planning with some of the other schools.”</p><p>You glanced at Kuroo and thought back to the dark circles you noticed on his face. </p><p>Nekomata subtly glanced at the oversized jacket you wore, clearly recognizing it as the captain’s.</p><p>“Although, I’m sure Kuroo will help you anyways… the rest of the boys too”, he tacked onto the end for your sake.</p><p>You tried to read Nekomata’s impenetrable poker face, his smiling facade revealing nothing. </p><p>“He has been pushing himself lately”, you noted.</p><p>Nekomata nodded, “He’s a good kid, trying to get us to nationals and have another battle at the garbage dump. That’s probably why he’s putting so much into the upcoming training camp.”</p><p>You agreed with Nekomata, recalling Kenma telling you about their school’s old rivalry with Karasuno high school, which was from Miyagi, your hometown. Admiring Kuroo’s resolve you figured it would actually be kind of fun becoming the team manager, besides you could spend more time with Kenma, although your stomach was flipping at the thought of spending time with a certain rooster-boy.</p><p>“I’d be happy to join, I’m not in any sports clubs so this is the next best thing for my college applications!”</p><p>Pleased, Nekomata held his hand out for a handshake, “welcome to the team y/n.”<br/>
You returned his handshake, Coach Nekomata clapped to signal for the team to gather around.</p><p>“Boys, please welcome your new manager, miss y/n!”</p><p>Kuroo took a step forward, looking visibly surprised. He glanced at Kenma, standing next to him, who shrugged in response.</p><p>His gaze turned to you, neither of you breaking eye contact. “Welcome to the team y/n!” Kuroo loudly announced and bowed, the rest of the team following his lead.</p><p>Yamamoto began to pinch his cheeks, “Am I still dreaming?!” Before he collapsed again. This certainly was going to be an eventful practice.</p><p>By the time practice wrapped up the sun was beginning to set. Coach Nekomata had left and you finished putting everything away as the rest of the team went to change back into their school uniforms. </p><p>Lev was one of the first ones to come out of the changing room. “Y/n!” He yelled, throwing an arm around your shoulder. </p><p>“We’re all gonna head to the convenience store before walking home. You’re coming with right? We gotta celebrate you joining the team!”</p><p>“I guess, if everyone’s going. But it’s not like I’m a player or anything.”</p><p>Kuroo suddenly appeared and shoved Lev to the side forcing him to remove his arm from you. “Nonsense you’re just as important, if not more short stack! If Kenma is the brain, you’re like the arteries that let us carry blood, so that the body can function propertly.”</p><p>Kenma groaned, “Kuroo are you telling her more of your cheesy speeches?”</p><p>“I think it’s inspiring”, Lev responded, oblivious to Kuroo tactfully positioning himself between you and Lev.</p><p>You scrunched up your nose, “It is a little cheesy.”</p><p>Kuroo shrugged, “Everyone's a critic.”</p><p>The silence in the air was quickly broken by your rambunctious group, as you and the team headed towards the convenience store. You and Kenma waited outside and sat on the steps while the rest of the team headed in to grab snacks. </p><p>You and Kenma were in deep discussion about the new characters coming out in the MMO game you played together and were deciding if you would add any to your parties.</p><p>A bag of chips fell onto your lap. You looked up to find a smiling Kai. One by one, the rest of the players plopped a random assortment of snacks onto your lap, forming a small mountain. </p><p>“Hold out your hands, chibi-chan”, Kuroo smirked.</p><p>You huffed, “I’m not even that short!” But held out your hands anyways.</p><p>Kuroo rolled his eyes, “Hush, you’re shorter than me. Here.” He placed a cupcake into your hands.</p><p>“We finally got a manager!”, Lev cheered.</p><p>You laughed, “Thanks guys, but I don’t think I can even carry this, let alone eat all this.”</p><p>“That’s where the team part comes in”, Kuroo winked, “teams are meant to share with each other!”</p><p>“Cheap bastards”, you teased, seeing them stiffen up worried they had offended you. Once you couldn’t hold it in anymore and began laughing, everyone visibly relaxed and began opening up and passing around the snacks.</p><p>You participated in stuffing your mouth full with the rest of the team, inhaling the cupcake.</p><p>“Oh yeah, y/n, why do you have Kuroo’s jacket on?” Lev asked.</p><p>You looked down at the jacket that overwhelmed your frame, forgetting that you even had it on. </p><p>Yaku attempted to give a noogie to Kuroo, which failed at their height difference, “You scheming bastard, not even a day and you’re already putting the moves on our new manager?”</p><p>“Yeah!”, Yamamoto chimed in, “Give me- I mean the rest of us a chance!”</p><p>You and Kenma snickered at the sight of Kuroo getting ganged up on by his own teammates. </p><p>“Hold on”, Kuroo said with his palms up mock-surrendering, “y/n spilled something on her shirt and I gave her my jacket like the gentleman I am.”</p><p>Yaku and Yamamoto looked skeptically at Kuroo. </p><p>“Hey, what kind of guy do you think I am?!”, Kuroo exclaimed.</p><p>“The dodgy kind, of course,” Yaku grumbled.</p><p>The weather still hadn’t gotten that cold yet, but there was a breeze as the sun had already set. Noticing that Kuroo was just in his black t-shirt, you began to unzip his jacket.</p><p>“Thanks again Rooster-boy, here’s your jacket.”</p><p>Kuroo shook his head, “Keep it on, you need it more than me, give it back to me another time.”</p><p>He placed his hands over yours, forcing you to zip the jacket back up. You prayed he couldn’t feel how fast your heart was beating in your chest.</p><p>“It’s getting late guys, I’m sure y/n needs to head home too”, Yaku commented.</p><p>“Ok mom”, Lev grumbled, “Ouch!”, responding to the hit from Yaku.</p><p>“Which way do you live y/n?” Kenma asked.</p><p>You told them your address. </p><p>“I’ll walk back with you, I’m going the same way”, Kuroo said.</p><p>Kenma glanced at his friend curiously, knowing very well that he and Kuroo lived a different direction from you, but figured he would keep his mouth shut as it would be safer for you to not walk home alone.</p><p>You said your goodbyes and everyone headed their own way home. There was an awkward silence between you and Kuroo as you both began to walk home.</p><p>You glanced at his face, noticing that he had been staring at you too, you both quickly turned away. </p><p>“You really need to catch up on your beauty sleep Kuroo, you’re starting to look more like a raccoon than a rooster”, you teased, hoping to lighten the mood. </p><p>He chuckled, “Thanks for your… concern? There’s been a lot lately since we’ve got to get to Nationals.”</p><p>“Why do you push yourself so hard? Coach told me about the ‘battle at the garbage dump’, is it that?”</p><p>“I guess so. Coach and volleyball has helped me out so much throughout the years. I want to make his dream a reality before I graduate. We really have a shot this year, the baby crows are pretty good and we got a good group of kids this year!” </p><p>Kuroo sneaked another glance at you, “plus we got this new manager, she can be clumsy at times, but her work ethic and drive really helps motivate the team.”</p><p>You looked at him, surprised but also touched at his words. Flashing a small smile, “For a scheming captain, you’re actually pretty cool sometimes.”</p><p>He rolled his eyes at you as the both of you reached your house. You took his jacket off, immediately missing his piney scent that enveloped you throughout the day. </p><p>“Thanks for the jacket, but I don’t think Kenma would let me live it down if I let his childhood friend freeze to death”, recalling your previous conversation.</p><p>“Ha ha, how do I know that isn’t exactly what you and Kenma planned,” Kuroo responded sarcastically, slipping his jacket back on. He missed seeing you wearing it already, but he’d settle for your slight sweet scent that lingered on the collar.</p><p>The two of you stood awkwardly in front of your door, reluctant to leave. “Goodnight Kuroo. Thanks again for everything.”</p><p>He smiled and turned to leave, “Goodnight y/n, I should thank you for agreeing to be our manager and making poor Tora’s dream come true.”</p><p>You snickered thinking back to Yamamoto passing out twice and headed inside after giving a final wave to Kuroo.</p><p>After that day, Kuroo would walk you home whenever practice ended late and you would find out much later that Kuroo actually did not live in your direction.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Serotonin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Training camp goes wrong or awfully right when the other managers challenge you to Truth or Dare. Bokuto gets the wrong idea and Akaashi seems to want to play wingman with you and Kuroo...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You were finishing packing up the rest of your stuff in your backpack when the door to your classroom swung open.</p><p>“Chiiibi-chan!”, a familiar yet irritating voice called out. You didn’t even have to look up to know whose teasing voice it was. However you did notice curious glances from your classmates, shifting between you and Kuroo who was casually leaning against the doorframe as if he hadn’t just embarrassed you in front of all your classmates.</p><p>You rolled your eyes before walking towards him, “I told you to stop calling me that, rooster head!”</p><p>He smiled, showing off his canines, “And I told you to stop making fun of my hair, I guess we’re at a stalemate.”</p><p>“What do you want”, you demanded, sounding more harsh than you meant to.</p><p>“Ouch, can’t I just visit my dear friend?”, Kuroo feigned hurt, hand placed over his heart. At your blank expression he sighed and continued, “Fine, delivery for a miss L/N.”</p><p>You hadn’t even noticed he had been holding something in his hand, he passed a red track jacket to you. “Your manager jacket came in today, welcome to the team, officially!”</p><p>“Thanks Kuroo!” He simply smiled and headed back to his own class.</p><p>When you returned back to your desk a couple of the girls you sat with on your first day swarmed you with questions.</p><p>“Oh my god, was that the captain of the volleyball team?”</p><p>“Are you guys secretly dating?” </p><p>“Is he single? What kind of food does he like?”</p><p>You looked around panickedly, Kenma sparing you a pitying glance before turning back to his game. You had realized asides from the first question, you actually didn’t know that much about Kuroo even though you had begun to spend a considerable amount of time with each other.</p><p>You tried to answer all of their questions as casually as possible, without sounding too awkward. “I’m just the team manager, I don’t really know them well enough to play matchmaker yet”, you laughed off, the girls’ surrounding you were pouting and returned to their own business.</p><p>You turned to glare at Kenma who was sitting beside you, “Thanks for the help”, you said sarcastically.</p><p>He glanced up at you, “Anytime”, before snickering and returning back to his game.</p><p>“What was that about anyways”, you whisper-yelled at him.</p><p>Kenma shrugged, “Some girls find him ‘cute’, he gets confessed to once in a blue moon, guess it’s that time of the year again.”</p><p>You didn’t know how to answer, simply nodding although Kenma wasn’t even looking at you. It wasn’t like his fangirls were wrong, even you found him cute, still the thought irritated you. But you weren’t about to let anyone know that, you’d never live the teasing down from the guys.</p><p>As if suddenly remembering something Kenma spoke up again, “By the way don’t mention this to Kuroo, it’s gonna get to his head again. Last time a girl confessed to him he wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks.”</p><p>You felt a tightening in your chest. “So, I’m guessing that means he went out with her?”, you asked in the most uninterested tone you could muster.</p><p>“You’d have to ask him, I don’t think so though, never saw her around”, Kenma responded looking curiously at you.</p><p>A week had passed, and you lifted the last of the equipment out of the bus. It was finally the much-anticipated training camp held at Shinzen High, with the other powerhouse high schools in the Fukurodani Academy Group being invited. You had been told that an invitation had been extended to Karasuno as well this year.</p><p>Kuroo grabbed the equipment out of your hands, “Don’t worry I got this one.”</p><p>“You sure? I know you’re in third year but that doesn’t make you a grumpy old man yet.” Throughout the entire bus ride to Shinzen, Kuroo had been noticeably irritated. You had chalked it up to nerves, but the trip had taken a lot of energy out of you as well with Lev calling dibs on the seat next to you, and talking your ear off the entire time.</p><p>Kuroo rolled his eyes at you, “Shouldn’t you respect your elders? Just go before I change my mind or break my hip.”</p><p>You laughed and almost skipped off, happy that the heavy lifting was done. You caught up to the rest of the team letting out a surprised squeal when Yamamoto gripped your shoulders and pushed you in front of another man with a buzz cut.</p><p>“Don’t think you’re so high and mighty now baldie! We got our own female manager and she’s pretty too!” Yamamoto showed you off with the fervour of a pageant mom.</p><p>Tanaka stood undaunted, arms crossed, and gestured to two girls who were walking behind him, “Oh yeah city boy? I’ll admit your manager is pretty cute but look at this!”</p><p>Yamamoto finally released you, kneeling in front of Tanaka as if to show his respect before getting up again.</p><p>“You got two now!? No fair!” Yamamoto moaned, throwing a mini temper tantrum.</p><p>You elbowed him, “Can you stop talking about me as if I was a Yu-Gi-Oh card?”</p><p>You glanced at the other two girls, the one with black hair looked unphased by the boys’ antics while the short blonde next to her was shaking like a leaf.</p><p>“Get back here Tanaka!”, a voice boomed out revealing itself to be Karasuno’s captain, Daichi.</p><p>“Tora, stop accosting the managers!” Kuroo scolded, arriving the same time Daichi did. The two captains noticed each others’ presence and smiled politely at each other before shaking hands. They continued exchanging pleasantries, neither willing to let up on their harsh grips. They were almost too polite and the air seemed to constrict, you looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the sudden tense atmosphere.</p><p>A silver haired man next to you shivered, “Terrifying…”, he mumbled under his breath. You could only nod in agreement. </p><p>You stepped behind the guys to approach the two managers from Karasuno, introducing yourself to them. “Nice to meet you, I’m y/n! I’m kinda new to being a team manager but I look forward to getting to know you guys during this camp!”</p><p>The black haired girl smiled at you kindly, “Nice to meet you too, I’m Shimizu but call me Kiyoko.” </p><p>The blonde haired girl looked around nervously, “I-I’m Yachi! I’m new at being a team manager too, but we’d be happy to help you out!”</p><p>You smiled and thanked them. The other teams had begun to arrive as well, most of the players already familiar with each other from previous training camps and matches. Coach Nekomata encouraged you to go on ahead and check out the classroom you would be sleeping in and sharing with the other female managers, while the team would find their own.</p><p>You would be lying if you said you weren’t excited but also nervous. You hadn’t shared a room with someone since summer camps you attended as a child, so you were looking forward to making new friends and hoped you’d get along with the other managers.</p><p>The room you’d be staying in was on the second floor, you walked in to find you were the last one there, the other girls in the process of setting up their sleeping bags and spaces.<br/>
“Oh Nekoma’s manager is here, let’s introduce ourselves!” You sat down with the other girls and introduced yourself. Everyone seemed to be friendly, you had already met Kiyoko and Yachi. Then there was Eri from Ubugawa, Mako from Shinzen, then Kaori the cheerful girl that made the suggestion and a drowsy looking girl, Yukie, both from Fukurodani.</p><p>Everyone finished setting up and you all began to head to the gyms Yukie and Kaori flanked you on both sides. “Soo, this is your first training camp huh?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m actually a new student at Nekoma.”</p><p>Yukie’s eyebrows raised in interest, “Oh? Anyways, us managers actually have a ‘tradition’ we do every year, you should join us.”</p><p>“A ‘tradition’?”</p><p>Kaori nodded, “It’s not serious or anything, just a fun game we play since we’re all here together, can’t let the guys have all the fun right?”</p><p>You chuckled nervously, “Yeah of course, thanks for the invite!” </p><p>They both smiled happily at you, “The more the merrier, I’ll tell the Karasuno girls”, Kaori chirped, bounding towards them.</p><p>Yukie slyly looked at you, “So you and the Nekoma captain huh?”</p><p>You looked at her in shock, choking on your own spit, “W-what are you talking about?”, you sputtered.</p><p>“I saw you two earlier, looked pretty cozy”, she teased.</p><p>“We’re just friends Yukie!”</p><p>“Hmmm, if you say so”, she stuck her tongue out at you before leaving to find Kaori. You looked at her retreating figure, feeling caught off guard. </p><p>And so the practice matches began. Nekoma was playing against Karasuno and you guys were dominating. Apparently two of their members would be late since they had to do makeup exams, one of them being Kenma’s friend, Hinata.</p><p>You grimaced as Karasuno began diving onto the ground as the punishment for the losing team.</p><p>You handed out towels and water bottles to the team. Kuroo placed a hand on top of your head, “Aren’t you proud of being on such a great team?”</p><p>“Humble aren’t we? Although I’m glad you don’t have to do those dives, I don’t think your old knees could take it”, you teased.</p><p>Kuroo opened his mouth to return with his own scathing remark before he was pulled into a bear hug and getting the air knocked out of him. </p><p>“Hey, hey, hey! Missed you Kuroo buddy!”</p><p>“B-bokuto”, Kuroo wheezed trying to regain his breath and push the owlish man off of him.</p><p>Bokuto settled for sliding an arm around Kuroo’s shoulders. He then noticed your presence and smiled brightly at you, “So you’re the new manager huh? Kuroo’s told me a lot about you!”</p><p>“Shut up Bo’”, Kuroo threatened through gritted teeth, elbowing his ribs. Bokuto doubled over in pain, “What was that for”, he hissed back.</p><p>“Guys I’m still here”, you laughed, “I haven’t heard anything about you though Bokuto?”, you teased.</p><p>Bokuto’s cheery disposition fell, his hair seemed to droop with his mood, “What? I thought we were friends, you don’t talk about me Kuroo?” Bokuto whined, blinking up at Kuroo, an obvious expression of betrayal on his face.</p><p>You and Kuroo looked at each other at the same time, bursting into laughter. His cackle echoed off the gym walls, yours not sounding much better.</p><p>“Wow Kuroo, you weren’t kidding about Bokuto’s emo mode.” </p><p>He smirked back at you, “I’m anything but a liar.”</p><p>Bokuto seemed to perk up a bit, “So you do talk about me! Hey wait-”</p><p>“There you are Bokuto! Our practice match is starting soon”, someone said in a gentle voice.</p><p>Bokuto pouted at him, “Akaashi they’re teasing me!”</p><p>Akaashi brushed off his comment and nodded at Kuroo in acknowledgement. He introduced himself to you, you doing the same.</p><p>“Akaashi why are you ignoring me too now”, Bokuto continued to fuss. Akaashi sighed and pushed Bokuto back to their side of the court, and looked back apologetically.</p><p>You raised an eyebrow at Kuroo, “So your friends are… interesting.”</p><p>“I’d say annoying but we’ll go with that.”</p><p>While the practice matches continued, you left to go help the other managers make dinner.</p><p>You were all hanging out in the school kitchen, chatting and making small talk to get to know each other better. Yukie leaned over the counter towards you, pushing her red hair out of her face. </p><p>“Y/N, I didn’t actually tell you what our game was right?” You shook your head no in response.</p><p>Kaori leaned over toward the two of you, “It’s basically like truth or dare.”</p><p>You raised an eyebrow quizzically, “That’s it?”</p><p>Yukine lazily grinned, “Let us finish first, so it’s just dares and for every dare you complete you get one point, if you chicken out you lose one, whoever has the most points by the end of the three days wins.”</p><p>Kiyoko walked over towards your group, ladle still in hand from helping in the cafeteria earlier, “So is there a prize?”</p><p>You had been surprised Kiyoko was willing to join since she didn’t seem like the type, but you may have underestimated how convincing the Fukurodani girls could be.</p><p>“That depends on who wins”, Mako chimed in, “Last year Yukine won, and she depleted our entire snack supply. Seriously though, where does all that food even go?”</p><p>Yukine shrugged, “I heard there’s going to be barbeque this year so I wanna keep my winning streak up.”</p><p>The dares had started innocently enough. It was actually pretty fun. Everyone had almost died from laughter when Yachi had to give Coach Ukai an onigiri with wasabi in it. His face turned red and he couldn’t stop coughing and cursing for the next few minutes. Of course, Yachi was so traumatized she shied away from completing any of her other dares.</p><p>Yukine came back from the kitchen, hands overflowing with various snacks. After being scolded by Kiyoko, she replied, “Whaaat? It was on school property to begin with so it’s free use!”</p><p>You had pointed out it was likely a teachers’ or clubs’ stash which she shrugged off. She popped open one of the chip bags and plopped down next to you.</p><p>“So y/n it’s your time to be in the hot seat now”, she said, wiggling her cheese-dusted fingers at you.</p><p>You wrinkled your nose in mild disgust, “Give it to me.”</p><p>The girls whispered to each other, you overheard streaking and visibly blanched at the first, you had also overheard Eri saying whatever Yukine suggested was too mean.</p><p>Yukine visibly drooped at her idea being rejected before sighing “fine”, and leaned back towards you.</p><p>“Alright miss y/n, your challenge is to get one of the guys to give you their number. Obviously, no one from Nekoma and you can’t make any dumb excuses to get it, I’ll be watching”, Yukine said, playfully gesturing two fingers from her eyes to yours to accentuate her point.</p><p>“That’s it? I thought this was a challenge”, you smirked trying to suppress any uncomfortable feelings.</p><p>“You say that but poor Yachi almost passes out when any of the players even talks to her”, Kaori grumbled, “And Shimizu has her team of bodyguards that make those weird faces when anyone approaches her.”</p><p>Kiyoko grimaced knowing exactly who these ‘bodyguards’ were referring to. “It may be harder than you think, the players from Karasuno are very… volley-ball minded”, she said elegantly.</p><p>Kaori snorted, “you mean oblivious.”</p><p>Yukine turned towards you, “Sounds like you and a certain captain”, she teased referring to your earlier conversation.</p><p>“Oh my god Yukine, I said we’re just friends.”  </p><p>This got the attention of the other girls, “The Nekoma captain, Kuroo Tetsurou? I’ve heard he’s pretty popular so if you do like him, better act before someone else snatches him up”, Kaori said.</p><p>Mako squinted, “Really, that guy who hangs out with Bokuto? He seems kinda nerdy to me.”</p><p>“What’s wrong with nerdy guys?” You declared, instantly realizing you had fallen into your fellow managers’ trap as they snickered and exchanged glances with each other. “Whatever, I’m going to get this dare done”, you huffed.</p><p>Official practices were over, and many players were catching up with their friends at individual practices. Yukine and Kaori joined you in one of the gyms where Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi, and a disinterested blonde who you learned was Tsukishima were practicing in.</p><p>Kuroo had wiped off the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand before noticing you.</p><p>“Hey y/n, over here!”</p><p>You smiled and walked towards them, Kaori and Yukine giving you teasing looks before going their own way.</p><p>Kuroo raised an eyebrow, catching their suggestive looks, “You getting along with the other girls?”</p><p>“Yeah, maybe a bit too well…” Kuroo tilted his head, still appearing confused, to which you thought he looked adorable. A thump had caught both of your attention, Lev had sprawled out on the floor. Kuroo smiled apologetically at you before bursting into a light jog on the other side of the gym, “I thought I told you to practice serves with Yaku!”</p><p>You turned your attention towards Bokuto, figuring he’d be your best bet at completing the stupid dare game you had decided to play. Trying to play with your hair as flirtatiously as you could, “I saw you playing earlier Bokuto, you looked so cool on the court!”</p><p>Bokuto’s already owlish eyes widened even more, “You serious? I mean yeah I’m always this cool!” He posed like a superhero, chest puffed out in pride, which you giggled at.</p><p>“Don’t tease him y/n, he’s going to go into emo mode again”, Akaashi said.</p><p>“No, I’m being serious! I think you’re really funny too, we should definitely keep in touch”, although this was for the dare you did genuinely mean what you said to Bokuto.</p><p>Bokuto appeared excited before his face contorted with conflict. “Aw man, I can’t hit on my friend’s girl”, he mumbled to himself before realizing he was talking out loud at seeing your confused face.</p><p>“-I mean I’d love to but I know I’m super cool and all but there are other guys who are even cooler than me! Believe it or not”, he exclaimed, eyes flitting nervously to where Kuroo was at the other side of the gym.</p><p>Akaashi watched silently amused at the situation in front of him, quickly putting together that something was going on. </p><p>“Well since you and Kuroo are friends, and Kuroo and I are friends, doesn’t that just make us friends too Bokuto?” You had asked, putting the pieces together as to what Bokuto meant.</p><p>Akaashi decided to step in, “That’s right, and Bokuto you’d always been good at bringing people together, as a good friend right?” He asked, emphasizing together and staring pointedly at Bokuto.</p><p>Bokuto looked completely lost, and you had an inkling as to what Akaashi was implying but couldn’t bring yourself to understand why. Akaashi sighed and continued staring at Bokuto as if telepathically trying to explain himself. Bokuto stared back just as intensely before catching on, and letting out a loud “OHHH!” You weren’t sure if Bokuto had actually understood anything.</p><p>He had grabbed your phone out of your hands and passed it back to you, “Here’s my number! Akaashi you should give hers too, we can invite her to the group chat!”</p><p>Akaashi reluctantly took your phone as well, and simply told him that it’d be a bad idea. “No offense, but trust me you’d be better off not knowing.”</p><p>You laughed and brushed it off, “No worries I don’t even want to know what goes on in Bokuto’s head.” Akaashi agreed, “I had to mute him for a while.”</p><p>Bokuto pouted, his hair somehow seeming to fall again, he stomped off in the corner mumbling he’d start his own group chat with just you and him before Akaashi had to correct him that it’d just be a normal text conversation.</p><p>Throughout your conversation you had felt a heated stare on you, glazing back nervously, you made eye contact with Kuroo, holding each other's stare for a moment before he quickly snapped back and looked aimlessly around the gym as if he hadn’t been staring.</p><p>Akaashi took this moment to whisper in your ear, “So you’re trying to make Kuroo jealous right?”</p><p>You jumped back in shock, a blush overtaking your face, “What are you talking about?”</p><p>Akaashi tilted his head, “That’s what makes the most sense, you do like him right? Well Bokuto probably wasn’t your best option, he’s a bit… slow when it comes to these matters.” </p><p>Honestly unsure of how to respond, you just blankly looked back at him. Akaashi noticed Kuroo returning back to you, he winked at you making sure he was in Kuroo’s line of vision before trying to coax Bokuto out of the corner he had hid himself into.</p><p>Kuroo towered over you, his hands in his pockets. ‘That smooth bastard, never thought Akaashi would be the aggressive type’, he thought to himself.</p><p>Meanwhile you stood still shocked at what had happened. </p><p>Kuroo placed one of his hands behind his neck nervously, “I want to walk around a bit to cool down, join me?”</p><p>You had agreed and walked around the school in an awkward silence. Unbeknownst to you, Yukine and Kaori had been watching, unable to take anymore of this Yukine jumped in front of you and Kuroo.</p><p>“Hey guys, sorry to interrupt but could you help me grab some more volleyballs from the storage room?”</p><p>“Sure”, you replied looking suspiciously at her.</p><p>“Oh Kuroo right? You should help too, it’s a lot!”</p><p>Before Kuroo could even respond she began to practically shove the both of you towards the nearby storage room.</p><p>You stumbled into the room before seeing Bokuto high five Yukine. “Oh no I’m falling!” Bokuto yelled overdramatically, the next thing you knew the doors closed on your face and you heard the faint click of a lock. “Enjoy your prize!” Yukine’s faint voice yelled out from outside</p><p>Kuroo looked just as shocked, and both of you turned to look at each other at the same time, the same incredulous look on your face. At the strange situation you burst out into uncontrollable laughter, clutching your stomach from the pain. Kuroo’s cackle revertabrated off the storage room walls.</p><p>“Why are all of our friends so weird”, he managed to get out in between breaths.</p><p>You shrugged, “Weird attracts weird.”</p><p>“You know you just dissed yourself too right?”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>Finally regaining composure, he turned towards you, “So what’s with this prize?”</p><p>You rolled your eyes, “apparently it’s a tradition for the managers to play this Jigsaw-esque truth or dare game every training camp.”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow, “Oh yeah? So I’m the prize?”</p><p>“Don’t flatter yourself, it’s more of a torture chamber being stuck here with you”, you teased with no malice behind your voice.</p><p>“Tell me some of the dares, we have to pass the time one way or another before our ‘kidnappers’ come back for us.”</p><p>You had told him all of the dares you and the other girls had to do, him laughing in response to the ones concerning you, like when you attempted to speak in a Kansai accent for a whole day, or when you had to dump a cup of water over yourself.</p><p>“Ah, well that explains your weird behaviour, I thought hanging around us had finally gotten to you. Which one got you the win?”</p><p>You wrung your hands, unsure of whether to answer honestly, “I had to get one of the guys’ phone numbers and I think I won since I got both Bokuto and Akaashi!”</p><p>“Hmmm, so that’s what that was all about”, you could feel Kuroo’s breath on you, ‘were our faces this close together the whole time?’</p><p>“You could have asked for my number.”</p><p>“Idiot, I already have your number Rooster-head.”</p><p>The faint moonlight shone in through the small window above. At this point, your noses were almost touching, Kuroo brushed a strand of hair out of your face, tucking it behind your ear.</p><p>“Why don’t you text me?”</p><p>“I do.”</p><p>“You text me about the team, not about personal stuff.”</p><p>“I didn’t think you wanted me to.”</p><p>“You text Kenma, I want to know more about you, I thought we were friends afterall.”</p><p>“To be fair, Kenma ignores most of my texts.” This earned a chuckle from Kuroo, you could almost feel his deep voice vibrate through you, with how close you were to each other.</p><p>“Glad to know it’s not just me”, Kuroo paused to think for a moment before continuing, “Well then dare queen, can I give one last dare to you?”</p><p>“Depends on what it is”, you teased.</p><p>While you were expecting him to say something, he only brought his face closer to yours staring into your eyes looking for something. You weren’t sure what he found but it gave him enough resolve to close his eyes and place a hand on the back of your head. Your body responded on its own, wrapping your hands around his neck, until finally your lips brushed against each other softly.</p><p>You were lost in the moment and missed the clicking sounds outside. Suddenly the storage room was flooded with light. You and Kuroo snapped your heads to look towards the source to find a looming shadow, both of you jumping apart from each other as if you had the plague.</p><p>A surprised look briefly crossed on Coach Nekomata’s face before an unfamiliar stern look appeared on the old man. “It’s past curfew! I was young too once, I know you have your hormones and all but that can wait until an appropriate time”, he scolded.</p><p>You felt mortified and even in the dim light could tell how red Kuroo’s face was. “Sorry Coach”, you mumbled in unison. Coach sighed and gestured for you to get out before locking up the storage room again.</p><p>You and Kuroo walked back to the classroom in silence. As you entered the building and had to go in seperate directions, you lingered awkwardly.</p><p>“Goodnight rooster hair”, you said softly.</p><p>“Goodnight shortcake”, Kuroo said back with a faint smile.</p><p>You began to head to your room, and felt something was pulling you to look back, so you did. You turned your head to find Kuroo doing the same, causing a laugh out of both of you. You waved back and ran off to the room you shared with the other managers.</p><p>As you walked in you heard the giggles of the other girls, “Did you have fun?”, Yukine teased.</p><p>You groaned and threw yourself onto your sleeping bag, “You’re lucky I don’t have the energy to kill you.”</p><p>She giggled, “Guess someone doesn’t kiss and tell.”</p>
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